


Back To Hawkins

by squeezedorange



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Electrokinesis, F/M, Gay Will Byers, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Post-Season/Series 03, Will Byers Has Powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21553816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squeezedorange/pseuds/squeezedorange
Summary: During a trip back to Hawkins, Will Byers finds himself revealing a little more than planned.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Robin Buckley & Will Byers, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Will Byers & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Will Byers/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 151





	1. Authors Note

So, first things first, this story takes place AFTER season three so spoilers will be common throughout the book. 

Flashbacks will be shown in italics and the place/date/time should be at the beginning of the first paragraph whenever it changes.

It's never specified where the Byers are planning on moving and I figured Minnesota's as good a guess as any. Also, I don't think they ever confirm if/where Jonathan is going to college at the end of Season 3 so we're gonna give him a happy moment and let him go to NYU (I will update either of these if season 4 contradicts them).

All that being said I hope you enjoy and remember that feedback is always appreciated!!!


	2. Coming Home

Hawkins, Indiana; March 17th, 1986 (9pm)

"The car just pulled in!!" Mike shouted from where he was perched at the the window. 

And with that, chaos broke loose. The entire party- including Steve and Robin- bolted through the front door to greet the Byers clan. Will and El launched out of the car and ran straight into a massive wave of teenagers. Voices overlapped and there was a lot of hugging. 

When everything started to calm down, Mike yelled over to his mom who was chatting with Joyce by the car. "Hey mom, we're heading downstairs!"

"Okay, have fun," she shouted back. 

The group traveled downstairs, nearly falling as they ran to the basement. Everyone was talking a million words per minute and Will couldn't even begin to keep up. 

"Okay, I need to know everything I've missed." El declared once they all reached the basement. Her and Mike were already reattached, his arm around her shoulder and they fell onto the couch.

Max plopped down next to them while Lucas and Will took the two seats across from the couch. Steve, Robin, and Dustin all grabbed discarded folding chairs from the corner and completed the circle. 

"Well before that happens, how's Minnesota treating you guys?!" Lucas asked and Will rolled his eyes. 

"It's practically the same except we don't know anyone." Will joked and El chuckled in agreement. 

"Lame, there's nothing at all?" Dustin sounded a little let down. 

"Minnesotans are really into hockey. And the music scene is huge there," El excitedly stated. 

"Radical," Robin spoke up. 

"Anyways, like I said. What's going on here?" El moved on, bored with Minnesota already. 

Mike and Max started giving them the rundown of what they missed, Dustin and Lucas offered their input occasionally but half the time they were absorbed in their own conversation. Will switched between listening to the conversations for about an hour. 

"Hey Mike, what are you guys want for dinner?" Mrs. Wheeler shouted from upstairs.

"What do you guys want?" Mike turned to the party and was met with shrugs. "Pizza?"

He was met with a resounding yes from the group and ran up to talk with his mom. 

"Hey Will?" Dustin grabbed the boys attention. "Doesn't Jonathan go to NYU?" He was referring to Will's sweatshirt. 

"Yeah," Will froze. "I borrowed it from a friend."

Dustin nodded, not convinced but also figured it wasn't a big deal.

*****

Winona, Minnesota; March 16th 1986 (8am)

"So if you're leaving soon, I should probably get going." It wasn't a question but he phrased it as one. Chris had gotten to the Byers' early that morning to say goodbye. 

"Yeah," Will said but neither of the boys moved. "Or you could just come with me?" He joked. 

Chris chuckled and pulled the other boy into a hug. 

"Here," Chris spoke as he pulled back. He tugged off his sweatshirt, which contained the logo for his brother's college: University of Wisconsin at Madison and handed it to Will. "Just make sure you bring it back." 

"Of course."

And with a glance toward the door, a soft kiss was planted on Will's cheek and Chris was out the bedroom door. 

*****

"So my mom's heating up some pizza, should be done in about half an hour." Mike returned, bringing Will back to the present. "What do you guys want to do in the meantime?"

"Atari?" Lucas suggested, gesturing to Mike's game console. 

"There's only two controllers but if everyone's okay with just hanging out, I'm up for it." Mike approved, meaning Lucas bolted for a spot in front of the TV and Dustin followed him, not far behind.

So that's how they spent the rest of the first day back, just like before they moved. Pizza and video games, but with a much larger group than previously. Though there was no discussion about it, they all started falling asleep one by one, till eventually it was just Will and Mike. 

"Hey dude," Mike gestured for Will to join him on the surprisingly vacant couch. 

"Hey, how's it going?" Will sat and started his first one-on-one conversation since he got here. 

"Good, we've missed you and El. It's just not the same without you guys." Mike laughed, speaking nostalgically. 

"It's weird, sometimes I'll forget I even moved," Will admitted. "Like one time, I got completely ready to hang out and I didn't even remember till I was riding my bike down the street."

"Dude, the party tries to walkie you all the time," Mike and Will chuckle. 

"Maybe I need one of Dustin's tower things." Will suggested and Mike started thinking. 

"You know, that's not a terrible idea. I mean, we'd use it all the time." 

"Remind me to talk to Dustin about it tomorrow," Will declared. He stood up and grabbed his suitcase, unzipping it. "I'm gonna go upstairs and get changed."

"Sounds good. We actually set up rooms for you guys if you want to sleep in there." Mike said with a look towards the cramped group of teens. 

"I'm good, I think I'll hang out down here tonight." Will smiled as he grabbed his clothes and started up the stairs. "Oh, and dibs on the couch."

"Damn it, Will." Mike stood up and set up his spot on the recliner across from the couch. 

Will reached the top of the stairs and continued the familiar route to Mike's bathroom. He quickly changed into a loose t-shirt and flannel pajama pants; both items were obviously hand-me-downs from Jonathan. As he opened the door to the basement, the phone on the wall caught his eye. 

"Hey Mike?" He whisper shouted down the steps. 

"Yeah?" Makes voice sounded gravelly, like he was half asleep. 

"Can I make a call real quick?" Will asked, realizing now that it was probably a dumb idea. 

"Go for it," Mike curiously approved the request. 

"Thanks."

Will took a deep breath. 'It's fine, no one's gonna hear you. Besides, just don't talk about- that.' He thought to himself. He slowly dialed the number he'd memorized for this occasion and the phone rang twice before someone picked up. 

"Abigail Howard, how can I help you?" She spoke in a polite, tired voice. 

"Hey Mrs. Howard, can I talk to Chris?" Will asked, staring at doorway, ready to hang up the phone if someone walked up. 

"Will! Of course," she recognized his voice. He heard her in the background calling Chris to the phone. 

"Hey Will! Did the trip go okay?" Chris greeted, uncharacteristically formal. Which meant- "Mom, off the line, please." 

"I've been caught!" She laughed, trying to avoid the awkwardness. "Okay, don't stay up too late Chris. Have fun in Indiana, Will."

"Goodnight mom," Chris urged. They waited until the click of her phone hanging up was heard. "So, hows Indiana?"

"It's nice, we've only been here a couple hours and I'm already tired though." Will sat down with the phone in his hand, back against the wall. 

"Well from what you told me about the billion people that were gonna be there, I'm not surprised." Chris laughed at him. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"I'm about to head to bed but someone told me to call them when I got here," Will teased. 

"Oh, don't you make this my fault," Chris exclaimed. Will couldn't see him but he pictured Chris: legs crossed, back against his headboard, the red phone in his room pressed against his ear. "You can go to bed whenever you want."

"Whatever," Will muttered. "I should probably get going. I doubt they're gonna let me sleep in tomorrow."

"Yeah," the smile was evident in Chris' voice. "Just call and check in every once in a while?"

"Of course." There was a pause in the conversation, neither speaking. "Goodnight Chris," Will spoke. 

"Goodnight Will." Chris paused before he hung up the phone. 

The line went silent, Will put the phone down and made his way back downstairs. He set his clothes down and slid underneath the blanket set on the couch. 

"Who was that?" Mike spoke, startling Will. 

"A friend from Minnesota," he wasn't technically lying. 

"Oh cool, we didn't really talk about Minnesota did we?" Mike laughed, realizing the conversation never reached El and Will's time in Minnesota. "What's he like?"

"He's cool, kind of a nerd like us but he's also an athlete. The teacher asked him to show me around when I first got there and we just kept hanging out." Will was downplaying their friendship by a landslide but he didn't want Mike to find out just yet. 

"Nice," Mike sounded sincere but there wasn't really anything to say. "I'm gonna sleep now, we're probably gonna have to get up early tomorrow."

"Yeah, Goodnight Mike." Will agreed, laying down. 

"'Night Will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow okay, much longer than I initially planned but here we are. First chapter is done. It's a tad more face paced than I hoped but I was trying to get the greetings/expositional information that's not important to the plot out of the way.


	3. Club Tropicana

Hawkins, Indiana; March 18th, 1986 (10am)

Just like how they'd fallen asleep, they woke up one by one. By the time Will was up, Max, Eleven, and Lucas were already moving around and quietly chatting. 

"Morning," Lucas noticed as Will sat up.

He rubbed his eyes, vaguely looking around. "Morning." He stood up and joined the small group forming on the floor. 

Dustin and Mike joined said group sometime around 10:30 and they decided to wake up Steve and Robin shortly after. 

"So what's the plan for today?" Mrs. Wheeler asked when they migrated upstairs into the living room. 

"We haven't decided yet but I was guessing we might to the lake?" Mike suggested to the group and his mom. 

"That sounds fun," she approved. "Well, let me know before if you guys leave."

"Sure mom," she nodded to Mike and went upstairs. "What do you guys think?" 

"Yeah," El sounded excited. She'd recently gone real swimming for the first time a couple months after they'd moved away. It took her a couple tries before she was able to relax in the water but now she's practically in love with it. 

Will on the other hand, wasn't getting over his memories quite as easily. Every time he got in the water, he remembered the photos of his body being pulled from the lake. But if El could get over it, there's no reason he should have a problem with it. 

The rest of the group agreed and they planned to all go back home, get changed, and meet at the lake at noon. 

Steve and Robin took Dustin, Lucas, and Max home shortly after. While Mike and El went up to Mike's room and Will was left with the parents. In order to avoid the inevitable sympathy from his mom; he went downstairs, grabbed his suitcase, and brought it up to the room set up for them. Well it was supposed to be set up for El and Will was supposed to stay on an air mattress in Mike's room, but he couldn't exactly go in there now. 

Will shifted through his suitcase for his swimsuit when he checked his watch. It was one of those huge, obnoxious, beeping ones that reminded him of his curfew when he was out with friends. His mom got it for him after he fell asleep at Chris' house and forgot to call her, she was one call away from going to the police when Mrs. Howard finally picked up.

It was around 11:15 when he shut the door and quickly changed into his swim suit. Just as he was tugging a clean shirt over his head, he heard a knock on the door and opened it to Mike. 

"What do you think of going out to lunch first?" He held the phone in his hand, obviously straining the cord to reach Will. 

"I'm good with that," he agreed.

"Okay, me and El are gonna get ready and then we'll all head to Frank's." Mike finished and traveled back to his room. 

Will exited the room- knowing that El would be coming in soon to change- and the lights in the hall seemed to match his demeanor, dimming while he walked past. 

He waited in the living room for Mike and El to venture down the stairs, keys in hand. 

"Let's head out!" He declared, Will rising from the couch with a nod. 

*****

The gang of teenager, stomachs full from lunch, loaded into two cars to make their way to the closest thing Hawkins has to a beach. 

It was around 3 when they pulled into the parking lot of the lake and Will's stomach dropped. He was shocked out of his thoughts when Mike slammed his door shut. He got out quickly and ran to catch up to where Lucas and Max had gone ahead. 

"Third wheeling is excruciating," Will announced. The whole ride here was Mike and Eleven chatting amongst themselves about all the dates he was gonna take her on within the next week. 

"You know you're technically third wheeling us right now too?" Max pointed out, gesturing in between her and Lucas. 

"You guys aren't nearly as bad as Romeo and Juliet back there." Will joked, rolling his eyes. Max and Lucas laughed but all Lucas could remember was when the argument him, Will, and Mike had before the Byers moved away. 

The three struck up a conversation and Dustin joined them, giving up on his attempt to talk to Mike. 

"Just give him a day or two, even if he doesn't back off, I'm gonna need some girl time with El." Max declared as they were setting their bags down. 

Lucas ripped off his shirt and started bolting to the water. "Race ya," a challenge to whoever decided to accept. 

"Unfair!" Dustin took off down the beach, leaving Max and Will standing there. 

"Hey, just cause I can tell you might need it. You're definitely welcome to hang out with me and El if you ever need a break from them." Max offered, sensing the irritation that was practically seeping from Will's pores. 

"I'm good, I wouldn't want to interrupt girl time," Will chucked. 

"Well, it's not quite 'girl time' so much as it is 'no-Mike-Wheeler time'. Which I can tell you'll need." She laughed as if it was obvious. 

"What?" 

"Yesterday was good but every time you've looked at him today, you look like you're ready to punch him in the face." Max finished her sentence and her face morphed into one of shock. "On my god, do you like El?!" She whisper yelled. 

"No!" He genuinely yelled back, drawing attention from the pair that took a detour to go over and watch some geese. When they turned back around, Will lowered his voice. "El's Like a sister to me, literally and figuratively!"

"Okay, well either you like El or you like-" It was a harmless joke but Max was cut off when she saw the look of terror on Will's face. 

"Hey you two! Stop gossiping and come get in the water!" Dustin yelled from the choke hold Lucas had him in. 

"We'll talk about this later," Max said. Though it sounded more reassuring than threatening. She started jogging through the sand that had been placed there earlier in the year. 

Will noticed the light post closest to him was flickering on and off as he tried to calm down. He tried to ignored it and walked to the water, noticing that as he calmed down, the light slowly stopped flashing. 

Eventually Mike and El joined them in the water and the group hung out in the lake till around 8 when it started to get dark and the street lights turned on. 

The huddled together in a shallow part just off shore to talk. 

"How do you guys feel about going to dinner then coming back and going night swimming?" Mike suggested, as it was only dusk and not dark yet but they were all getting hungry. 

Will wasn't exactly excited about it, but today so far had been going smoothly so he agreed along with the rest of the party. 

"Okay, I've gotta call my mom while we're out and let her know we won't be back till later. I suggest you all do the same." He was talking to Will. No doubt. That's when Will's watch decided to remind him of his 9 o'clock curfew. 

"Shit," he got out of the water, running to their pile of stuff to turn it off.

"Oh, I completely forgot." El admitted, having followed Will out of the lake. 

"Forgot what?" Dustin questioned, coming up the beach with Lucas and Mike behind him. 

"Me and Will technically have a 9 o'clock curfew. But I'm sure if we call and ask she'll make an exception." She reassured before turning around to Will. "Right? I mean we're with a big group and she knows where we'll be."

"It's worth a shot," Will shrugged. "Anyways, it's no use getting upset over until we call her. So let's go get dinner."

"I second that," El smiled. 

So they dried off and threw on various arrangements of clothes before loading up the cars and heading to Papa Johns. They ordered their food and decided to huddle up in the bed of Lucas' truck to eat. 

"I'm gonna go use their phone," Will crossed his fingers despite not being sure if he wants her to say yes. 

They acknowledged him with a couple shouts of encouragement before turning back to the pizza. 

He dialed the number to Mike's house and Mrs. Wheeler picked up. "Hello, Wheeler residents who's calling?" 

"Hi Mrs. Wheeler, it's Will, can I talk to my mom?" 

"Of course, Will!" She moved her mouth away from the phone but Will heard her call his mom to the phone. 

"Hey sweetie, what's going on?" Joyce assumed the worst but tried to remain calm. 

"I was wondering if me and El could stay out past curfew? We're at Papa Johns right now and we'd just be going back to the lake till around midnight." Will offered and held his breath while waiting for her response. 

"How about you're back by eleven?" She hated the idea of them out so late but couldn't bring herself to say no. 

"Deal! Thanks mom!" He hung up the phone and bolted back to the truck. 

He announced the news and with the new time limit they decided to eat on the road, driving back to the beach. 

While Will had seemed to grow comfortable during the day, the night presented an all new challenge.

They left everything in the car this time and sprinted down, jumping off the dock and swimming out further than before. 

Will looked nervously back towards the shore before he heard his name being called by Dustin, urging him to keep up. 

They'd begun fooling around and Will was starting to relax when he felt something glide along his foot. Memories of The Upside Down rushed into his brain faster than he could remind himself where he was. 

It took them a second to notice but the shouting from where Will was splashing became too loud to be covered by the sound of water. 

"Will?!" El shouted but earned no response. El noticed the street lights at shore flickering madly and tried to swim towards him. 

It didn't help quite as much as she'd hoped as he started to thrash around even more and they were plunged into darkness when the street lights shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wayyyyyy longer than I expected but I set my mind to where I wanted to end this chapter and I had to get through the whole day to get there.


	4. Under Pressure

Hawkins, Indiana; March 18th, 1986 (9:30pm)

The group- now visually impaired- began to shriek and sprint to the shore. El's nose started bleeding as she pulled Will out of the water, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the crowd as soon as they hit the sand. 

"What happened?" She didn't sound angry, but her tone was urgent. 

"I- I don't know. I think I just got overwhelmed and it all started to build up but I didn't think about the lights and-" Will's ranting was gently cut off. 

"Why were you overwhelmed?" Her voice was softer than the last time she spoke. 

"I kept thinking of when-" his voice got caught in his throat. "When they pulled my body from the lake and it wasn't really me but seeing the photos and then something touched my foot and I started thinking about the whole situation and it just-" Mike's flashlight shattered. 

"Shit!" Mike yelled, dropping the device. 

"Will calm down, it's okay," El rubbed his arm. 

"Guys what's going on?!" Dustin noticed Will freaking out. 

"Nothing it's fine!" El shouted back to him but they didn't believe her. They ran over to where Will stood, hyperventilating and spewing words out 100 miles a minute. 

"Don't-" El tried to warn them but the loud group of teenagers threw Will into overdrive. The street lights that were out of range from the first blast weren't so lucky the second time as at least 5 exploded glass onto the ground below them. 

"Stop!" El yelled, shutting up the boys and letting the silence take over. Her gentle tone returned when she spun around to talk to Will again. "Hey, just sit down and relax, you've got this." 

Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Mike watched in horror as they realized what had happened to the lights. If the situation wasn't telling enough, the stream of blood falling from Will's nose sure was. 

"Oh my god," Dustin slipped. 

"Help me get him to the car." El put her arm underneath one of Will's shoulders and Mike instantly ran to help. 

"I'll go get it started." Lucas turned and started sprinting to the car with Dustin by his side. 

"I'm sorry," Will groaned so quietly they could hardly hear it. 

"Don't apologize," El reassured. 

*****

They'd gotten back to the house and were now pushing snacks and water toward Will. El had quickly gone upstairs to tell Joyce they'd gotten home, knowing she doesn't go to bed unless she knows Will and El are safe. 

She bolted back down stairs as quietly as possible, bringing another water bottle with her. 

After about ten minutes, Mike cleared his throat and asked what they were all thinking. "So, what's going on with this?"

El looked to Will and he was practically falling asleep. He nodded to her, giving her permission to explain. 

"About a month after we got to Minnesota the electricity in our house started acting up. Mrs. Byers called an electrician but they said there was nothing wrong with the wiring and it was probably influenced from some device inside the house. We ignored it for a bit because it wasn't a huge deal but one night it just started going crazy. I ran to Will's room because I thought it was a monster or something and he was having a nightmare. When I woke him up it calmed down and stopped altogether in a matter of minutes. So we did a couple experiments and he's been working on controlling it but he got overwhelmed at the lake today and lost control." El finished, looking over to where Will was shamefully staring at the ground. 

"Why didn't you guys call? We could've helped." Mike sounded almost irritated. 

"I didn't want to make it a big deal. I wanted to ignore it altogether actually but that wasn't an option." Will snapped back at Mike. 

"But if ignoring wasn't an option then the best option is coming to us!" Mike argued and Lucas smacked his arm, giving him a what the fuck, man expression. 

"Calm down, Mike." El grabbed Mike's hand and he took a deep breath. 

"Sorry," he shook his head. 

"Okay, can you..." Dustin looked like he was trying to contain his excitement. "Can you show us?"

Will chuckled at the stereotypical Dustin antics. He turned to the tv and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and focused on the tv. 'Just focus on the connection between you and the tv, picture you're just flipping the switch.' He remembered the advice he'd received from Chris. 

He felt a click and heard cheering around him when the tv clicked on. A smile broke out on Will's face and he'd yet to open his eyes to see his friends celebrating. 

"Okay, can we explore this more tomorrow? I'm exhausted," Will asked. The all agreed and to humor them Will focused again and flicked off the tv. He was met with more cheers and a smile from El. 

They'd grown closer since they moved. Neither of them realized it till they were stuck alone together, but they'd spent hardly any time hanging out. In actuality, they didn't really get close until Will came to her about his powers. Jonathan was great but it was nice to have a sibling closer to his age that he could relate to.

"Okay, well we should be heading out." Max and Lucas stood up, he jingled his keys for emphasis. 

"Could you guys drive me?" Dustin asked, the only member of their party who's avoided getting his license. 

Both Max and Lucas rolled their eyes but with a chuckle, they agreed. Hugs were exchanged before the trio took off and left Mike, El, and Will in the basement. 

El turned to Will, her eyes shifting to the phone on the wall. "Do you wanna...?"

"Oh, yeah." He nodded but remained seated on the coach. 

El took the hint and grabbed Mike's arm, bringing him up the stairs. Will heard a faint "wait, what?" as Mike was being pulled up the stairs. 

He slowly got up and walked to the phone, a blanket still held tightly around his shoulders. He quickly dialed the number and held the phone up to his ear. 

"Hello, Howard residence, how can I help you!" Mrs. Howard picked up. 

"Hi Mrs. Howard, I need to talk to Chris."

"Just a moment." She covered the receiver and yelled for Chris to pick up the phone but Will heard. "Okay he'll be on in just a moment." 

"Hey, what's up?" He heard Chris' voice and let go of a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Will waited for his mom to hang up on her end before he responded. But when he heard the click, it was like a race had started. 

He started detailing the events of the day before he finally got to the lake incident. He talked as quick as he could, hardly letting Chris get a word in. He didn't notice, but as he spoke he slid his back down the wall and was currently sitting on the floor underneath the phone. 

"Okay, woah, wait. You blew up a bunch of street lights?" Chris asked when Will finally finished. 

"Yeah, about ten I'd say, in two different blasts though." The shock had worn off and Will couldn't help but be a little impressed by himself. 

"Did anyone get hurt?" Chris asked. 

Will shook his head even though he knew Chris couldn't see him. "No, we were all in the lake and there was no one on shore."

"Then that's totally badass," Chris laughed. "Dude you could hardly turn on a flashlight and now you're blowing up ten street lamps?! Do you realize how cool that is?!" 

Will felt himself blush as he smiled at Chris' antics. "Okay but do panic attack related power moments count?" Will asked, genuinely wondering. 

"Is there a point system now or can we just be excited?" Chris mocked Will, who was now shaking his head. 

"We can be excited tomorrow, I'm exhausted." He admitted, yawning as if on cue. 

"Stop calling me when you're exhausted," Chris scolded. 

"Sir, yes, sir." Will slurred out, realizing just how tired he was. "Anyways, I'm out so I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

Chris rolled his eyes at the question. "You're the one who has my number, but goodnight." 

"Shut up," he paused. "Goodnight."

Will stood and placed the phone gently against the wall, taking a moment before he went upstairs and got bombarded with questions from Mike. 

However, it didn't actually end up being that bad, as El had given Mike a strict 'don't keep him up with questions, he's tired' speech before Will had gotten upstairs. 

"Just one thing?" Mike asked as Will laid on the air mattress. 

"Just one," Will accepted. 

"Does this friend your calling know about everything?" Will knew what he was really asking. 

"He knows about mine and El's powers, he's helped me figure mine out actually. The same way you helped El." It slipped out before he realized what he was implying. 

"Okay, cool. Goodnight." Mike said and will let out a breath. 'Maybe he didn't pick up on it.’

“Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Back In Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings: homophobia/homophobic slurs

Hawkins, Indiana; March 19th, 1986 (10am)

The next morning the teens were awoken by the sound of a car door shutting outside the Wheeler house and the laughs of Lucas and Max greeting Mike's mom downstairs. 

Both boys cringed as they heard the pounding of footsteps sprinting up the stairs. "Wake up! We're gonna meet Steve and Robin at Starcourt!" Lucas bursted into Mike's room. 

"Why?" Will sat up and the blow up mattress beneath him squeaked. 

"Why not?! Get up!" Lucas pulled Mike from his bed. 

They both begrudgingly agreed and sent Lucas out of the room, followed by Will who explained that Mike was getting dressed. 

After they both got dressed, they met El and Max downstairs and rushed out to the car. Will agreed to drive Max and El while Lucas drove Mike and Dustin.

The mall wasn't too far from Mikes house- considering everything in this town was walking distance- so it only took them ten minutes to get there. 

"Where are we going?" El asked when they met up with Lucas, Mike, and Dustin. 

Lucas checked his watch. "Steve said they get off from Scoops at noon, so... ice cream while we wait?" 

They all nodded in agreement and headed inside. Mike taking El's hand and Max shoving Will's shoulder when he rolls his eyes at them. 

"Steve!" Dustin shouted when he saw the older boy come in to view. Steve, however, was with a customer and hardly flinched when he heard the shout. 

They all filed into the shop and Robin gave them all a wave before handing a young girl her ice cream and leaning against the counter to take their orders. 

"Okay, what'll it be?" She asked, ditching the company lingo. 

The group went through and ordered quickly, chatting off Robin's earn until Steve finished up with his customer and came over to help her. 

"So we were thinking we'd go see a movie?" Steve suggested and waited for a response. 

They all nodded but Lucas spoke up. "What would we even go see?" 

"I think they're reshowing Back To The Future?" Robin asked and her suggestion was met with cheers from the gang in front of her. 

"Okay, well let us finish our shift and then we'll meet you by the fountain." They shooed then away from the counter and out of the shop. 

It was only ten minutes before Robin and Steve exited the store, having ditched the uniforms for their regular clothes. 

When they finished their ice cream, the crew all walked down to the movie theatre, chatting and laughing loudly. They bought their tickets just in time and sat down right as the movie started to roll. 

It would've been awesome. If the couple behind them wasn't talking into a megaphone. 

That was an exaggeration but seriously, she's sitting right next to you dude, you don't have to yell. 

But because they'd all seen the movie before, they chose to just ignore it for now. Which went smoothly until the one of them started getting colorful with their language. And not in a good way. 

"No, I swear the dude was a total fa*got." The boy laughed and Will noticed Steve reach over to grab Robin's arm. 

"Don't make a scene," Steve muttered. But Will- being seated closest to the two- heard loud and clear. 

And Robin nodded her head. Until the boy spoke again. "He was asking to get the shit kicked out of him with his dumbass hat." 

That was when Robin leaned over to Will and whispered. "If anyone asks, I'm straight and Steve's my boyfriend."

Will hardly had a second to question before Robin shot up and turned around. "Hey dude? Shut the fuck up!" She shouted and the guy instantly stood up to yell back.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I was talking to you." The girl he was with grabbed his arm but he shook it off. 

"Well the entire movie theatre could hear so I thought I'd interject my opinion." Steve stood up next to her and whispered something in her ear. "And you sound like a major douche!"

The guy winded up to hit her when Steve stepped in and grabbed his fist. "Okay, we're gonna leave." He let go of his hand and filed the kids through the isle till they were all past the asshole currently trying to argue with Steve. 

"Let your d*ke speak for herself!" The guy ripped his hand away from Steve and his girlfriend grabbed his arm. 

"Hey Danny, let it go." She tried to grab his arm but he just huffed and sat down. 

Robin nodded and flipped him off before following Steve out of the theatre. 

The group was silent as they walked out of the theatre and she looked at the expectant teens with confusion. "What? The dude was being an asshole."

"You didn't have to shout at him." Steve tried to calm her down but that was the exact opposite of what she wanted to hear. 

She released a loud scoff as she stepped away from him. "You don't get it." It sounded like a reminder. Steve put his head down and she rolled her eyes. "I'll be right back, I've gotta get a drink."

A thousand thoughts had been running through Will's head, but the most prominent was that he wanted to let her know that maybe Steve didn't get it, but he did. 

He took off after her, running to catch up. "Hang on!" Will shouted but found himself unable to say anything else. With a roll of her eyes, Robin turned around and crossed her arms. 

"Come on," she prompted impatiently. 

He took a deep breath and rubbed his hands against his jeans. "I- I heard what you said to Steve. And I just thought you should know-" Will paused. "That he may not get it but... I do."

Robin's eyebrows shot up with surprise. "Will," She walked closer so she was whispering. "Do you know what you're implying?"

Will nodded softly and offered a slight smile. 

"Well damn, kid." She smiled back and pulled him into a hug. 

Will pulled back, gesturing to where everyone stood confused. "Let's get back."

She put her arm around Will's shoulders as they started to walk. "If you ever need someone to talk to, just let me know." 

He nodded as they reentered the circle of teens. “Will do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Steve and Robin don't work at scoops ahoy anymore but I realized it after I wrote the chapter and this already took so long that I didn't want to delay it anymore! Thanks for reading!


	6. Good Combination

Hawkins, Indiana; March 20th, 1986 (3pm)

Currently, Will was sandwiched in between Lucas and Mike as Dustin tried to catch up Will and El with everything that's happened in school. Because of the whole debacle at the mall, they'd all decided to go over to the Wheeler's house and just hang out for the rest of the day. 

The idea had sounded amazing to Will because as a fantastic as it was to actually tell someone about his sexuality, it was setting in that someone knows and Will was kind of panicking. But now no one will stop talking and Will is just continuously getting more freaked out. 

Robin was sitting across from the group of boys and couldn't help but noticed that Will's breathing was getting heavier. He kept glancing between Robin, El, and the phone on the wall while his fingers drummed aggressively against his leg. 

Robin stood up and looked to Will. "Hey Will, can you show me where the bathroom is?"

Mike turned away from where he was talking to El, looking confused. "It's my house?"

"Yeah but you're in the middle of a conversation and I figured Will probably knows," she shrugged. 

"Fair enough." Mike agreed and resumed his conversation with El. 

Robin raised her eyebrow at Will and he quickly stood up and followed her up the stairs. When they got through, Robin shut the door to the basement behind them. 

"So it's-"

"Hey, you know that's not why I pulled you away. You looked like you were about to explode." She cut him off. 

"Listen, I'd rather not talk about this with everyone downstairs." Will refused to look her in the eye. 

Robin nodded and put her hand on his shoulder. "I get that, but I want to let you know I'm not gonna tell anyone. Not even Steve if you don't want me too. But we're going out to eat after we leave and I wanted to let you know you're more than willing to come with if you want to talk." She offered, pausing a second to let Will take it all in. 

"And I can personally vouch for Steve if you're nervous. He won't tell anyone." She smiled to hopefully relieve some tension. 

He didn't respond at first and when he finally did it was just a sort of slow nod. "You can think about it. And even if you don't want to tell Steve, you can come and we won't talk about it."

Will let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and nodded again. "I'll let you know," he smiled. 

She smiled back and took her hand off his shoulder. "Well keep me updated and you should probably get downstairs soon." 

"Yeah, probably," he laughed. He gave her directions to the bathroom and turned to go downstairs. "Thanks," Will spoke.

Robin smiled at the boy. "Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty small filler chapter but it's a nice setup for the Robin/Will dynamic I want to put in here.
> 
> Whew! Mid terms kicked my ass and it's been one thing right after the other recently. I'll try to get a steady update schedule soon but thanks for putting up with this and reading.


	7. Hard to Say I’m Sorry

Hawkins, Indiana; March 21st, 1986 (4am)

Will woke up drenched in sweat and whimpering softly. This would be concerning if he hadn't woken up the exact same way almost every other day since the Byers had moved to Minnesota. 

It was terrifying at first. The constant reminder of the dark, slimy Upside Down it took so long to escape. The faces of Hopper and Bob and everyone else who died flashed through his mind whenever he shut his eyes. But the more it happens, the more Will gets used to it.

He took a moment to ground himself, staring at the ceiling of Mike’s bedroom until he was for sure awake and in the correct dimension. When he calmed down, he grabbed an extra shirt and got up quietly to go to the bathroom just down the hall. 

He splashed water onto his face and dried it with a hand towel, then went to sit on the edge of the bathtub. He peeled off his shirt and traced the scars on his chest. 

The scars were minuscule at this point, having healed since his multiple adventures (that's how Joyce and Jonathan have decided to start referring to them) and surgeries. 

He was never insecure about them because no one ever saw them. He always felt like he should be insecure about them. Most people with scars were ashamed of them but to Will, they held no weight. 

"Hey?" Will's head shot up so quickly that he lost his balance and fell back into the tub. Mike rushed over to help Will up from where he'd fallen. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Will assured. "You just scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry, I thought you heard me come in." Mike handed him the folded shirt from the counter. 

Will pulled the shirt over his head and silence fell between the two boys. It was an extremely uncomfortable silence, one they were both desperate to fill but neither knew what to say. 

"So, what happened?" Mike tried. 

Will cocked his head, confused. "What?"

"Like, why are you up here?" He clarified. "Why are you sweaty and shirtless in my bathroom at 4 in the morning?" He laughed softly, hoping to relieve some of the tension. 

Will chuckled with him. "It's nothing, just a bad dream."

Mike nodded but didn't seem all to convinced. "Are you okay?" 

"I mean, I've lived through worse so the dreams don't really phase me at this point." Will saw that Mike's expression was only growing more concerned. "I'm okay."

"Okay." Mike pressed his lips together, obviously fighting back a opposition to Will's insisting. 

Will stood and grabbed his balled up shirt from the ground. "I'll head back downstairs. Sorry I woke you up."

"Hey, no." Mike rose from where he sat on the ground. "Don't apologize."

"Sor-" Mike rose his eyebrows and Will stopped mid-word. He then chuckled wordlessly, putting his hands up in surrender, to which Mike sighed. 

"Speaking of apologizing though; I never really apologized for everything that happened before you moved." Mike rubbed the back of his neck. 

Will put his hands down. "Mike, you pretty much apologized. I get it, it's okay."

"It was still kind of a dick move," Mike insisted. 

Will grabbed Mike's wrist. "Well as long as you're not a dick anymore, we're good." Mike smiled and Will pulled him in for a hug. 

It was a nice reminder of how things used to be. How Will and Mike used to be inseparable best friends before everything happened. Before El, before the Demogorgan, before Dart, before the Mind Flayer. 

Will pulled away and pat Mikes arm. "I'll be back down in just a bit."

Mike nodded and turned to leave the bathroom. He was just about to shut the door when he paused. "You know you can talk to me, right? Obviously we're not as close since you moved and everything but, you can still talk to me."

"I know, Mike," Will smiled. "Thank you."

Mike, satisfied, shut the door and went back downstairs.

Will let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and leaned against the wall. He debating going straight downstairs but ended up making a quick stop before the reached the top of the staircase. 

Plugging in the Howard's number, hoping Chris picked up instead of his mom. 

"Hello?" A groggy Chris picked up the phone. 

"Hey, it's Will."

"What's going on, it's 3 in the morning? Is everything okay?" Chris started to panic. 

Will shushed him. "I'm fine, just tired. I wanted to hear your voice." 

"Well do course you're tired, it's 3 in the morning." Chris stated, checking his clock. 

"Technically it's 4 in the morning here," Will corrected. 

Chris scoffed. "That's still pretty early, babe."

Will realized it was probably dumb for him to call, he could've just called him tonight. "Sorry I woke you up."

"No, Will. I literally told you to call me whenever you needed. How's everything over there?" Chris reassured quickly, realizing that Will was most likely feeling guilty just about now. 

"I just had another nightmare. I honestly don't remember what about but I woke up all sweaty." Will started to explain. "Like I said: I'm okay, I just wanted to hear your voice."

It was a plea to be distracted that Chris was gladly going to oblige to. "Well would you like me to tell you about my day?" 

"Yes please." Will smiled, already starting to relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I was watching Season 2 when I wrote this? I miss Mike not being an asshole.


	8. When The Levee Breaks

Hawkins, Indiana; March 23rd, 1986 (11:30am)

"Mike! Will!" El practically busted through door as she ran into Mike's room. 

On any other day this probably would've been fine, Mike and Will would've be pissed about being woken up but they would've been okay. But Will still hadn't fully calmed down from his dream last night. Meaning he was still on edge when the loud bang of the door startled him awake. 

The lamp on Mike's nightstand let out a blinding burst of light before the bulb inside it shattered as Will violently shot up from his air mattress. 

"Shit! Sorry." El quickly realized her mistake and rushed to his side. "Hey, it's just me. It's El. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shock you." At some point during El's apology Mike joined them on the floor. 

"I'm good." Will clarified, though his sweaty forehead and uneven breathing weren't doing much to help his case. 

"Sor-" El started again but was cut off. 

"Don't apologize, I'm okay." This time his message was accompanied by a half hearted smile. "It was just a rough night, I'm okay now." 

One of Mike's hands was holding El's while the other rested on Will's back. They sat like that—Will focusing on the pitter-patter of the rain—until he calmed down. 

"Max walkied, she said her, Lucas, and Dustin are going to the arcade and they can stop by and pick us up if we want?" She explained, 

Will exhaled heavily, having successfully settled down. "This early?"

"It's 11:30?" She chuckled, gesturing to the clock on Mike's nightstand. "Anyways, get up and get dressed. They'll be here in like fifteen minutes."

"Okay, cool. We'll be down in a few." Mike sent her away, turning to see that Will had laid back and sprawled out over the air mattress. "You good?"

Will's heavy breathing subsided before he responded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just overwhelmed."

"Okay." Mike nodded awkwardly, unsure of what to say. 

Will picked up on this though and filled the uncomfortable silence. "Well, don't worry too much, we've got high scores to beat." Mike's concern lessened when he saw the smile on Will's face. 

Mike collected a couple pieces of clothing to change into while Will got up to do the same. He went to the bathroom to change and upon his return he got a weird look from the now-dressed Mike. 

"Since when have you played baseball?" Mike scoffed, referring to Will's forest green Winona South High School Baseball t-shirt. Will probably would've taken offense to the comment if he wasn't at loss for an excuse.

"It's-" Will halted. "It's a thing in Minnesota. To raise money for sports teams, the players sell shirts to their friends and family." Will let out a deep breath when Mike seemed to buy it but he really had to start wearing his own clothes. "Well, let's not keep them waiting."

The two boys met El down in the kitchen and sat down for a quick breakfast. Mrs. Wheeler had made them eggs and bacon before she left for work this morning and there was a box of Eggo waffles out on the counter alongside a note. 

They were washing the dishes when a knock at the front door pulled Mike away from washing duty to go open the door. He returned to the kitchen shortly after with a drenched Lucas, Max, and Dustin in tow. 

The group of teenagers exchanged greetings before Lucas let out a cackle. "Baseball? Yeah, right."

"Why is that so hard for you guys to comprehend?" Will defended himself. 

"Because you don't play baseball. It's from a fundraiser for his high schools baseball team." Mike explained, but El gave Will a knowing look.

"Jerk." Will scoffed and shoved a chuckling Mike by the shoulder. "Anyways, we've spent long enough on this. Let's get to the arcade!" 

They all piled into Max's car; Max and Lucas in the front, El and Mike in the middle, and Dustin and Will in the back. The radio played and the teens sang along to Manic Monday on the way to the arcade. 

But at some point during the ride, the rain got the best of Max's driving abilities and the car started to skid. It was a small skid, Max got ahold of the car within five seconds and the road was completely empty. But she had to stop the car immediately when the stoplight in front of them shattered. 

Will was suddenly plunged underwater, his vision impaired and his lungs filled with water as he tried to inhale. The water was so dark that when he was finally able to open his eyes he could hardly see a foot in front of him.

An overlap of swearing was head but one word stuck out. "Will?" Dustin asked when he turned to see the boy shaking in his seat. "Guys! It's Will!"

Will tried to shout but it was muffled by the bubbles erupting from his mouth. He tried desperately to grab ahold of anything, but there was nothing but the water surrounding him.

Max pulled the car over to the side of the road and threw her door open as soon as it was in park. The rest of the group followed suit. El folded her seat down and she and Dustin pulled Will up to the middle row of seats. 

Eventually, Will noticed the weight in his pocket coming from the flashlight that was tucked in there. He scrambled to pull it out and turn it on but he was only met with more inky dark water.

"He needs quiet! Everyone get out!" El shouted over the commotion as she slid back into the car. As soon as they all were out, El slammed the doors and she placed Will's head in her lap. 

That was until he noticed the sense of a familiar tingle run up his spine. He begrudgingly turned to see the dreaded mouth of a demogorgan and as it let out the horrid screech, Will was shocked back into reality. 

"Will can you hear me?" His thrashing had become less prominent. "Will? You've gotta calm down. Listen to my voice, please." El begged but she couldn't get Will to come back. "Can you hear me?"

Will gave a small nod, just enough for El to exhale in relief. "Okay, then can you try to breathe with me? Just breathe in,"she paused. "And out."

Will's hands were grabbing at El's wrists for support as he did his best to breathe. She continued the mantra until the rise and fall of Will's chest aligned with her instructions. 

It took him a few minutes but eventually his eyes unscrewed and his breathing evened out. "You with me yet?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Will's voice was breathy and uneven but El was just relieved to hear him talk.

A knock shocked both of their gazes to the window, where a group of soaked teens were waiting to come back into the car. El looked to Will for approval and when he nodded, she unlocked the car doors to let them back in. This time Lucas and Max got back in the front while Mike and Dustin climbed in through the back. 

"Will? What happened?" Max asked, her and Lucas were turned around to stare expectantly at him. 

Will tried to answer but the words failed to come to him. His mouth hung open and the teens looked on in sympathy. 

"Should we go home?" El asked, his eyes were still blown wide opened and he looked like he'd seen a ghost. 

Will nodded urgently, "Yes." He didn't want to be the reason they're plans were cancelled. But what he'd seen was too important to ignore. 

*****

Hawkins, Indiana; March 23rd, 1986 (1:00 pm)

"You need to calm down!" Mike shouted at Dustin and Lucas. "There's nothing to suggest that there's any truth to what Will saw!"

Lucas scoffed. "Since when have we ever been that lucky?!"

As soon as they got home, Will had told him what he'd seen in the lake. Dustin instantly thought they should take it as a premonition but Mike was quick to disagree with the theory. 

"It doesn't make any sense! We were at the lake just the other day and nothing happened!" Mike countered but Dustin thrusted his hand towards Will. 

"Except Will going all Static when something brushed up against him in the lake! What's to say that's not what touched him?!" He insisted but Mike was still not convinced. 

"Okay! That's enough!" Will finally stood up and cut them off, accidentally shattering another lamp with his outburst. 

Mike turned to him, arms crossed. "Dude, that's your second lamp today. Chill."

"I'm sorry," Will stated. But the aggression didn't leave his tone. "But you guys need to relax. Arguing isn't going to help anyone right now."

"Will's right, we need to do something." El stood up and grabbed a (probably dirty) shirt from the couch. 

Max instantly picked up on what she was implying. But the boys just looked on in confused as Max turned on the radio and tuned it to a static channel. 

It wasn't till she wrapped the shirt around her head and sat in front of the radio that they understood what she was doing. 

"You sure?" Mike asked, going over to hold her hand in support. But she just nodded confidently, so Mike gave her a supportive smile. 

Will used this moment to put his powers to work, dimming the lights so there was less light to come in through the blindfold. She gave a proud, thankful smile in return before refocusing. 

All of them held their breath nervously as they watched her. She let out a few whimpers as her nose started to bleed and Mike tightened his grip on her hand. 

"El? Do you see anything?" Will asked, everyone else listening intently. 

She shook her head, "Not yet."

Will nodded, avoiding talking so that she could focus. 

For a while, she remained calm. A few whimpers here and there, but nothing worth worrying over. That was until her breathing picked up almost instantaneously and her grip on Mike's hand turned deathly. 

"El?" Mike asked, wincing. "El?!"

She instantly grabbed ahold of the shirt around her eyes, yanking it off. Mike wrapped his arms around her so he could hold her while she panted. The yelling stopped as they eagerly awaited her update. 

"They're real."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit my lovelies, it's been awhile!! I want to thank you all for the constant encouragement and love for this story (and for putting up with my awful updating schedule)!! I've started going back through and re-editing my chapters so I'll keep you guys updated whenever I start to upload the edited versions. Thank you all so much!
> 
> (Also sorry for any blatant errors, I really just wanted to get it out cause it's been so long and you guys have been so patient. I promise I'll go through and edit it.)


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